A monster most every weekday. Three adventure seeds a post.
Because Pathfinder and 3.5 are more fun than work.
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Friday, June 19, 2015

Ocean Giant

From an adventurer’s perspective, ocean giants are like
storm giants, just…more so.More
tempestuous.At CR 14, more
powerful.And with the vortex spell-like ability and a 50%
chance to be chaotic evil, way more likely to drag the entire party down
beneath the waves to drown or be crushed in the depths.

Essentially, it’s the difference between Zeus and
Poseidon.Zeus had his moods, but they came
and passed like storms.Poseidon’s curse,
on the other hand, haunted Odysseus for 10 agonizing years—a surly supernatural
malice that battered against everything and everyone Odysseus came in contact
with, like waves against a rickety dock.Ocean giants are like that—even the chaotic good ones are slower to
anger but take far longer to return to brooding calm, and the evil ones rule by
fiat, fear, and fists clenched in covetous rage…for decades.

Since losing his family’s
conch shell horn to a triton in an ill-considered bet, Millainus
Stormcaller has stewed below the waves, obsessing over the loss.When the triton enters a race from Bronze
Isle to Breakneck Bay, the ocean giant finally sees a way to retrieve his horn
without losing face.Efforts that foils
his plans, particularly from meddling land-walkers, will be met with rage that
eventually boils over into outright murder, all thoughts of saving face swept
away in the angry tide of the giant’s wounded pride.

In Acacia, storm
giants are exceedingly rare, born only from cloud-ocean giant unions.When Don Vaxos’s storm giant son prepares to
wed a cloud giant maid against his wishes, the ocean giant takes it personally,
using an ancient ritual to drag the entire festhall to the bottom of the
ocean.The son has just enough time to
scream a message to a roc ally, who in turn races off to find the only adventurers
she trusts.Now it’s a race against time
to rescue the cloud giant wedding guests from the sea floor before their air
runs out.

Festooned in spines
and barbs, the Palace of Urchinheart was never a welcoming place.But ever since its ocean giant lord fell
under the sway of a kyton envoy, it has become a place of nightmares.Now sailors vanish beneath the waves to fuel
ever-darker rites, and the lord’s household is in turmoil preparing for his
marriage to a kyton termagant who appears part woman, part armored whale, part metal
sea scorpion, and part bloated anglerfish.

—Pathfinder Bestiary 4
127

Apparently I like wedding adventure seeds today.Also, I’m pretty sure that first adventure
scenario also involves asp cultists, griffon riders, and a vortex of radiant violet
water, but I don't know how.

Also, a great model for both storm and ocean giants is the
Master of the Straits from Jacqueline Carey’s various Kushiel novels.

If you’re looking for the nymph water strider, we covered it
back here.

By the way, please forgive the occasional typos. I am aware of them, but disagreements between MS Word and the Blogger template make my entries nearly impossible to edit once posted. I blame gremlins. You can find a more polished version of this blog over on Tumblr.